My target language, Turkish, is technically an independent language family within a larger super-familial category: Altaic Languages (Devlin 2020). Although Mongolic and Tungusic languages accompany Turkic groups among Altaic Languages, Turkic languages are by far the most spoken in terms of specific languages and total speakers (Devlin 2020). Despite their linkages with their agglutinative properties, which means that suffixes and speech units are connected onto the endings of words to convey meaning (Devlin 2020). For example, 'I am his son's best friend' becomes 'Ben onun oğlunun en iyi arkardaşıyım.' 'I am his' is purely conveyed in the ending 'ı + (y) ım.' However, the claims of "shared [lexicons]" giving license to claim these three families can be placed under a singular term is substantially objectionable (Devlin 2020). Specifically, Turkish has undergone a massive redefinition and reorientation of its phonetic, syntax, linguistic inventories over the past century resulting from the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Through my experiences with reading translated Ottoman Turkish for my C-LAC, the presence of Persian and Arabic words becomes extremely evident when contrasted with Turkic words; much of these words are no longer utilized in contemporary language (Tor 2023). Moreover, the transition from Arabic characters to latinized script for Turkish signified a substantial rupture with Ottoman Turkish (Tor 2023), and the attempts to group it with Mongolic and Tungusic languages based on common lexicons stagnates the evolution of every language within this constructed groups. Despite the unexpectedness of a convergence of Mongolic and Turkic languages, rather than the expected divergence as time has progressed (Devlin 2020), the 'Altaic' claim appears to be overly-homogenizing distinct language families and ignoring the lengthy cultural, geographical, and social histories that facilitated the evolution these languages over thousands of years.

Sources:

Devlin, Thomas Moore. "https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/altaic-languages." Babbel. Babbel GmBH. Last modified April 30, 2020. https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/altaic-languages.

Tor, Sarah. "How Turkey Replaced the Ottoman Language." New Lines Magazine. Last modified August 18, 2023. https://newlinesmag.com/essays/how-turkey-replaced-the-ottoman-lang....